Butterfly Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 Hi everyone, I have been sick for the past month but now I'm much better and happy to be not only back to work, but posting again too. I have a question for you. The expence of college payments and braces for the kids is killing us and so I'm wanting to come up with ways to increase cash flow in my business. I'm thinking of designing quilt patterns and making kits to sell, but I have no idea how to go about doing that. Have any of you ventured into this sort of thing? Where do I begin? Jessica Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 I'm no help here, but I've thought about doing that too! I still have about 150 bolts of fabric from a quilt shop going out of business!! I could make up kits, I just don't think I could design patterns. I tried writing one out once, and let me tell you it wasn't so easy!!!:P:P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 Writing patterns is not easy in my opinion. I wrote a quilt mystery and still need to get it on my blog. I had 2 testers aside from myself working through it...and finally got all the bugs worked out! WHew! Will I ever be happy to get it posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcquilting Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 What about making up kits with patterns and selling on ebay? or maybe make items to sell at craft shows, online etc....my neighbor has a huge business making and selling, childs quilts, pot holders, and a few other odds and ends. Try thinking outside the box and find a niche that no one else in your area has tapped into yet...maybe giving classes on your LA or possibly renting it out when your not using it. I assume you quilt for customers...maybe you could expand on that....offer other services on you LA (binding application, basting for hand quilters) Just a few suggestions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterfly Posted April 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 Michelle, Thank you for the ideas. I don't offer binding yet. That would be a good way to increase cash flow. As far as making quilts and selling them or even puting kits together and selling them, where would I go to buy fabric wholesale? Jess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniemueller Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 Do you have a LQS? There is only one in my area, and I work there part time. I'm good friends with the owner. She's carried my original patterns for me. Can't say that I've made much money from them, but it helps to have a retailer who's supportive. I have a partnership going with another friend. We design and print fabric from photos of the area. It helps that we live in a photogenic tourist spot. For us it is more about the fun of designing and less about the selling. Again, the kits are sold at our LQS. We also have a website that we're thinking about adding a shopping cart to. www.kitsbysusannie.com. I don't find writing kit instructions all that difficult. Once you get the first one written and debugged, then there's plenty of material to cut and paste from for the next. It is very important to find a couple of people to test the instructions for you first, and give you good feedback. Finally, I think it was on this forum where I saw that a LAer made extra money one month by offering to quilt any size quilt with a basic stipple for $100. She did 3 a day for 30 days and made $9000. Now that sounds like a better money maker to me than the patterns and kits that I've made. IMHO:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcquilting Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 not sure about where to but wholesale fabric....maybe contact your LQS and see if they have any suggestions, 'course you hate to step on their toes.....I would search the internet for wholesale fabric suppliers. And I like Annies idea, run a special and see what kind of response you get. I would suggest doing stipple like she said, something easy and fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenni Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 Jessica - sent you a U2U - Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 Hi Jessica, Brendalee (sewingjunky) sells her Cowabunga Bag patterns and they were picked up this year by EEShenk (you go Brenda!!) Also, sewhappy has her own line of patterns and I believe she vends at shows. I posted the info about the meander special for $100--it was a "big girl" quilter (award winner/instructor) who had a financial emergency. She sent word to her regulars that for the entire month of January she would offer that special. Bring out the UFOs, the BOMs you hated, the king size you made as a gift and never could afford to have quilted--she took them all. Quilted a big puzzle meander and did three a day. It was such a hit that she chose her favorite customers to include and now does this every January. Nice boost of income for the first of the year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterfly Posted April 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Linda or Annie, I'm a little confused about the price for the meander special. Did she charge one cent psi? Is that right? Jess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoryJM Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Sounds like she charged $100 per quilt flat fee... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterfly Posted April 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Yea. I was originally thinking it was a $100 flat fee but then I got my calculator out and discovered that it wouldn't be that big a deal on queen size quilts or smaller. Jessica Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 I was thinking that same thing too. If you have a 100x100" quilt...at .01 cpsi...that equals $100. What am I missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 I will have to look at my notes from the class, but I think she was charging 1 cent an inch and the maximum cost was $100--so she received the monsters. So it could have been less than 1 cent an inch if the quilt was 120 x 120. Most would have charged 1.5 cpi for an overall. She said (last Fall) that she had January 2010 fully booked and a waiting list for 2011 if she decides to continue the program. That means her customers are probably piecing monsters to take advantage of the deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Originally posted by anniemueller ......Finally, I think it was on this forum where I saw that a LAer made extra money one month by offering to quilt any size quilt with a basic stipple for $100. She did 3 a day for 30 days and made $9000. Now that sounds like a better money maker to me than the patterns and kits that I've made. IMHO:) That was Joann Kabat (Mrs Bishwit) that did a month special similar to this and I am not sure but I think they were a certain panto or pantographs she allowed and could do quickly. I'll search history to see if I can find the post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 I found it (I think this is the one???) Originally posted by mrsbishwit I have been in business since 2005 so I have some previous years to compare with. I bought my machine new with cash/without a payment plan this took lots of pressure off me right away. Then I made up brochures and business cards and put them only in 1 LQS (luckily for me the quilt shop was brand new and they didn't have any other longarmers advertising there yet) I also offered the owner an advertising deal for me which was I would quilt up to 4 quilt samples per year for free for her (these have been all wall-twin size quilts) this way my name is on the quilts as the quilter and the quiltshop has something to show their customers when they are looking for a quilter. It brought in a lot of business for me. I also offered a 25% discount my quilting for my 1st year then reduced that to 15% off my second year (it helps to establish a customer base) which mine is now over 100 repeat customers (that have come back year after year). In 2007 I did away with my discounts per quilt and came up with a promotion to encourage my repeat customers to keep comming to me, I started a promotion called "a Quilter's Dozen" after the customer has brought me 12 quilts their 13th quilt is free. My customers love this and it has kept them loyal. Last spring however I did notice that business was starting to slow down due to the ecconomy, I even posted here about it and asked a simiular question as yours. My customers told me (when asked) that they were mostly using stash fabrics instead of buying new fabrics and that they were either sitting on the quilt tops waiting until the economy got better (alot of my customers lost about 40%in the stock market since last fall and before that was the high cost of fuel and food) any ways they decided to either hold onto their tops, attempt to do stitch in the ditch on their sewing machines or tie them instead of sending them to a quilter. So this past Oct I started a new promo called "The Depression Prevention Special" how this works is I am willing to quilt anysize quilt using the "inkblot" pattern (basic light density meander) for $50. using only 1 thread color choice. It is a no frills, no extra attention to the quilt (like trimming the quilt up after etc..) all of my other patterns are still full price. I am running this promo until the Dow Jones Industrial Average gets back to the 10,000 mark (it could take another year at the rate the stock market is going ) but this promo has really worked! Most of the quilts that I get for this promo are large lap to small queen in size and I can do 2-3 per day because the "inkblot" pattern is easy and quick. My customers are bringing quilts that they had stashed in their closets over the years not wanting to pay alot of $ to have them finished. If business continues like it has since I started this in Oct I will end up making what I made in the past years combined. I look at it as a win, win situation. My customers get their quilts done without sending them to the poor house (since the ecconomy is doing that already) and I end up making $ which helps makes the "ends meet" financially in my family to help offset the rising costs of everything. My DH makes good $ at his job and my business has always been used for the our dispossable income but in tough ecconomic times raising 5 kids has become harder. So to answer your question, yes the ecconomy is slowing down our business. Our business is linked to supply and demand and is also thought as a luxury not as a necessity. So in though times it is often the first thing most people cut back on when they are pinching pennies. You need to get creative if you want to surrive during these times. There are some that would never discount their services like I have decided to do for this one pattern but they are also taking a risk that they will get less income this year as well if they don't. I believe it comes down to pride/ego, some quilters would rather have little to no business and not lower their fees or run discounts/ promos where others like myself would rather figure out a way to keep the income comming in through promos/ discounts so my disposable income will be available for my family when needed to make ends meet. Do some soul searching and decided for yourself what you want to do and what you can live with. Good luck! and remember it is YOUR business run it the way YOU want, & set the prices that YOU think is fair, if it doesn't work you can always change it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterfly Posted April 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Shana, thanks for finding that for me. I've decided I'm going to do a one month large meander special for the month of May at one cent psi. I'm making flyers this weekend for my customers as well as for the local quilt shop and my guild. I so much hope this works out. Wish me luck. Jess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Good Luck, Jessica! Let us know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniemueller Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Good luck Jess! Please keep us posted. I'm curious to hear how it goes for you. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around someone doing up to 3 quilts in a day. I feel good when I finish one small one in a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarieBrewer Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Linnea Marie-if you have a local quilt show or even if you have to travel a bit, perhaps you could bundle some of your fabric and have a booth/table at the quilt show. I'm the vendor chair for our show and we are always looking for something new. You could bundle w/a cute little bow and a card with a cute saying-perhaps a fabric label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenni Posted April 10, 2010 Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 Sent you a U2U - Good News. Good Luck. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoryJM Posted April 11, 2010 Report Share Posted April 11, 2010 I got brave on our last trip into Reno and asked at a LQS there whether I could quilt their store samples in exchange for having my info hanging with the quilt. The owner jumped on it, suggested I make a flier and I'm picking up a top from her on Tuesday. She initially wanted basic quilting, until I said that instead of $$, I'd take payment in fabric. So now I get to show off my quilting, hang my card and she wanted a flier as well, and hopefully will get some new clients out of the deal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted April 11, 2010 Report Share Posted April 11, 2010 Originally posted by DoryJM ......So now I get to show off my quilting, hang my card and she wanted a flier as well, and hopefully will get some new clients out of the deal! :):) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyce Posted April 11, 2010 Report Share Posted April 11, 2010 Jess sent you a u2u. Joyce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted April 12, 2010 Report Share Posted April 12, 2010 Hey Marie Brewer! Thanks for the tips! I'll try it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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